Bengaluru: A college student’s dream of pursuing a modelling career has spiralled into a horrifying cybercrime, with her photographs being uploaded across multiple adult websites and social media platforms. The accused, claiming to be a hacker, demanded more intimate photographs in exchange for removing the content and threatened to create and circulate more fake nude images if she refused.Clara (name changed), 21, a resident of east Bengaluru, told police that the ordeal began on June 26, when an acquaintance informed her that many of her photographs were being circulated on an adult website. She later found that around 50 of her photos had been uploaded by a user identified as “MIGHT” in the early hours of June 26.Her friend helped her file a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Two days later, the harassment escalated when she received a WhatsApp message from +66 942757270. The sender told her that another album containing around 50 photos of her had been uploaded on another adult website by a user identified as “dahsir17” and claimed that the images were “going viral”.She filed another online complaint against the second website. When she questioned the sender about the uploads, the person claimed to be a hacker and offered to remove the photographs. However, the person demanded that she send more private and intimate photos in exchange for deleting the content and asked whether she agreed to the “deal.”She approached police, who advised her to stop responding. The suspect then began threatening her, claiming that as she had refused to oblige, he would upload a second batch of fabricated, sexually explicit images and videos using her face on another person’s body matching hers.The harassment did not stop there. Later the same day, another acquaintance alerted her through Instagram that some of her photographs had surfaced on Reddit. She found that around nine images from the same collection had been uploaded by the user, Optimal_Divide604.Traumatised, Clara told police that the photographs dated back to 2023-24, when she was 18-19 years old and aspiring to become a model during her first year of graduation.She said she had uploaded her profile to a talent-search platform, after which several modelling agents and agencies approached her. She shared the images in confidence, with the understanding that they would be used solely for professional assessment and would never be published or circulated. After leaving the modelling industry, she deleted her conversations with the agents and blocked many of them. However, she has now compiled a list of individuals and agencies with whom she had shared the photographs and has provided it to police.Her private photographs spread among her college peers and across multiple online platforms.A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act. A senior officer said the objectionable content has been removed from the platforms.————————–When confidence is exploited-21-year-old student discovers around 50 of her modelling photographs uploaded to multiple adult websites and later shared on social media platforms-A person claiming to be a hacker contacts her on WhatsApp, demands more intimate photographs in exchange for removing the content-The student says the leaked photographs were originally shared in confidence with modelling agents and agencies during 2023-24-The images spread among her college peers and across online platforms-Police officer says objectionable online content has been removed
